The Providores, Marylebone, London W1

A friend and I were in Marylebone having drinks on a Friday evening. Feeling peckish, we walked down the road to The Providores, somewhere I would describe as an upmarket tapas place. Very attractive decor with high tables and there are even four seats at the front bay window so you can watch the world go by. If you are lucky enough you may get one of the two outside tables on a sunny day.

The service I found to be a let down. We were asked to wait outside the door until they cleared up a table for us. There was another group of four outside who made the same comment about being made to wait outside. It is a small place but maybe they should consider being more efficient at clearing up the tables.

When we did sit down, we had to wait at least 15 minutes to get service. There is an extensive wine menu with prices starting at £23. A vast selection of tapas to choose from we chose a couple of dishes each.

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The food looks like someone in the kitchen put a great deal of thought in the presentation. Prices ranged from around £3.50 to £12. Depending on how hungry you are probably 2 to 3 dishes per person. Tidy, colourful and exciting looking dishes. Tasting them however was a let-down. Average dishes with nothing note-worthy or memorable. Providores is also known for it's Sunday brunch. A friend who has been has rated this as average also.

Looks can be deceiving. In this instance they certainly were.

The Providores, 109 Marylebone High Street, London, W1U 4RX, Tel +44 (0) 20 7935 6175 http://www.theprovidores.co.uk/

Taste of London

Special offers from Cafe Spice

A friend invited a group of us to the Taste of London. For my non-UK based readers this is a food festival held yearly in London at Regent's Park. This is a chance to try food from the most well-known and popular restaurants in London without the price tag.

Save for a short-lived downpour the weather held up for us. We arrived to be asked if we wanted some crowns. They explained to us that for £10 we could buy 20 crowns. Crowns being the accepted currency once inside. Typically they said that a dish cost 8-10 crowns. As my friend pointed out to the gobsmacked crown seller: We May Not Like the Food. We may end up going to McDonald's (as if!). So we set off inside armed with our initial purchase of 20 crowns each.

There were so many restaurants to try and so many bars. It could have been called Drink of London with food on the side, as opposed to the other way round. In spite of the wet weather and the mud we managed to work round and try a fair few of the restaurants.

They all had a menu of 3 courses to choose from and a signature dish. One thing that I found very well thought out, was that all the dishes they offered were very easy to eat on foot. They were specifically designed for the occasion. The service was also very good, what you would expect from this standard of restaurants.

My most memorable dishes were the foie gras starter from Four O Nine in Clapham and the Sea Bass from Le Caprice.



Main course at Le Caprice






The food selection at Four O Nine



Pea and Mint mousse from Petrus, not our favourite





Dessert at the Ritz, presentation was better than the taste





There were also some excellent mojitos to be found here and we consumed a fair amount.



Overall we all agreed that the food wasn't as good as what you would get in the restaurants. Then again, in restaurants of this standard, we pay a great deal of attention to the service, the decor, the ambience. In a way all this together with food presentation in a way makes the actual taste of the food a secondary issue. Take all this away and you are left with food which you consider good but not excellent as is what you would expect from these places. But one must remember, in this case it doesn't come with the surroundings. It's easier to be harsh. Of course again producing food in such volumes is no easy task either.

It was a lovely day out and I would recommend it to any foodie out there, it's a good insight to London's restaurants. I'm not sure however if I would go back next year. I may opt to go to one of the restaurants instead and enjoy the full experience.

You will of course be thinking that after all that we went home. Not us. We continued our food fest with Lebanese on the Edgware Road.

Upstairs at The Oak, Notting Hill, London

The only reason that found me here was that I friend and I were meeting for drinks a few weeks ago. We catch the same bus but from different directions, so we agreed to meet at a specific bus stop. Due to the bad weather, my friend text me to say that he was to be found in the upstairs of a pub called the Oak.

I made my way up the narrow staircase to come into a room so elegant and stylish, certainly not a pub. Vintage leather armchairs paired with velvet sofas, make give it a luxurious feel.  Quite a young, trendy vibrant crowd which were there to enjoy pre-club drinks I would say. I arrived, a glass of wine awaiting me.

Of course, being me, no night is quite complete without some food. Due to the rain we settled on the bar food. The food menu consists of a selection of tapas dishes. We opted for the sauteed chorizo (£5.25), zucchini fritta (£5) and the selection of three cheeses (£11).

This is probably the best bar food I have ever had. The chorizo was perfect with a hint of lemon to compliment the spice. The zucchini was simply perfect, with a light batter and cooked so that it was crunchy enough to the bite yet melted in your mouth. And the cheeses were the best possible selection.

There is also a good selection of cocktails, priced at around £8, and wine. Highly recommended!

Upstairs at The Oak, 137 Westbourne Park Road, London W2 5QL, Tel: 020 7221 3355 www.theoaklondon.com

202, Notting Hill London

I like early lunches at the weekend. It's a good excuse to get out and about early and enjoy the day. Brunch is even better. How better to cure the previous night's hangover: protein and more alcohol. I arranged one such brunch today.

202 is located on Westbourne Grove, with the concept of a restaurant in a clothes store, Nicole Farhi. They don't take daytime bookings which I quite like, get there early enough and you beat the queues, otherwise, well you just have to wait. The place has a very relaxed feel about it with, outdoor space if the weather permits. Sadly on our visit it didn't (typical!).

The crowd is not the the hippy, laid-back crowd to be found in nearby Portobello Road but a more well turned-out, either locals or groups of friends soaking up the less high street-more designer vibe of Westbourne Grove.

Brunch is served till midday. The menu has a varied selection. I opted for the eggs florentine while my friend had the granola with yoghurt. My eggs florentine were tasty and well, they hit the spot. Well almost. I had the buttermilk pancakes to follow which were also as good as they sound, although I did find the strawberry compote too sweet. The service is what you would expect, polite and efficient.

There is also an extensive lunch menu which makes me envious of the ladies who lunch.

Expect to pay around £17 per person for brunch and coffee.

202 202-204 Westbourne Grove, London W11 2RH Tel: 020 7727 2722 http://www.nicolefarhi.com/restaurants/

Bea's Of Bloomsbury, London EC4M

I tend to have lunch with a more determined cause of familiarising myself with the City and all the best places to eat and drink. Next to the magnificent St Paul's cathedral is the newer shopping centre, One New Change. My attention is always drawn to Bea's of Bloomsbury, a delightful looking cafe/cake shop.

I finally found the time to go insider and have a coffee. The blue and grey walls make this warm and welcoming, in an otherwise much advertised yet unspectacular shopping centre. There is a huge array of cakes displayed, which all look equally gorgeous and delicious, with the loveliest cupcakes making it an even more difficult choice. They also cater for breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea. With all the choice, I settled for a coffee.

Excellent coffee, for just £1.80, which was brought over to my table. I know it may seem unimportant but makes for a small luxury when most coffee shops these days expect you to pick up your own coffee.


This is a chic place with city people coming in for either a quick take-away or a pleasant change to the otherwise usually austere city surroundings.

I would however say that the experience was let down by the unfriendly waitress who, when I went to the till and asked if I could pay, was abrupt in telling me that she was serving another customer. I will certainly go back but a word of advice, a smile wouldn't hurt. Afterall I did ask to pay, not for a discount!

Bea's of Bloomsbury, St Paul's, 83 Watling Street, London EC4M 9AF http://www.beasofbloomsbury.com/

The Folly, London EC3V

I was out with work colleagues this evening. Yes I suppose you could say teamwork. Drinks in the city followed by dinner at The Folly..

 I had every intention of writing about it, so here goes. Before arriving we were warned to expect bad service and good food. In any event I took pictures of the venue and of the food. This was a big place, decorated like the most glamorous of gastropubs. Indeed very nice. However, on it's site it describes itself as the city's secret garden. I can't quite see this, other than the colour theme being green and some pots of basil and mint. I looked around to get a feel of the people there. Twenty-something city workers out looking to meet people in what they would probably consider 'cool' surroundings. In their opinion, no doubt boozy dinner in a bar come gastropub is cool. I overcame this phase two maybe three years ago. My boss overcame this over thirty years ago, I'll leave it at this, he may be reading!

Our starters were good. Pints of prawns, whitebait, satay chicken. Our mains: let me put it this way, they were ok. I mean this, we all went for different options and when I asked everyone, they nodded positively replying 'yes it's ok'. I had the fish pie. It was also ok. Let me decribe. There was alot of mash, good mash and good fish. However too much mash and too little fish. It was ok. In spite of what we warned the service was efficient, even though the two of us who ordered the fish pie had to wait an extra five minutes.

I think I would conclude that if you are over 27, ok is not good enough. You are looking for good. I don't like reviewing places which I wouldn't recommend. However although I wouldn't recommend this to, say my boss who passed the 27 mark longer than he'd care to remember, I highly recommed this to anyone under 27. Great place to see and be seen and chat to some 'cool' people.

Expect to pay around £30 per person with wine.

The Folly Bar, 41 Gracechurch Street, London EC3V 0BT Tel: 084 5468 0102 http://www.thefollybar.co.uk/